Costa Maya - anyone been there?

We are going on a cruise soon and we are stopping at Costa Maya - we've never been there -

how are the beaches?
has anyone snorkeled?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Costa Maya - anyone been there?

We stopped there on our cruise with NCL's Epic. We didn't have much time on the island and had excursions planned for our OTHER stops so we didn't do much here. I found it to be a very expensive stop. Don't buy any souvenirs here, they really ripped us off. We bought all our souvenirs in Cozumel for much cheaper.

The one thing I did LOVE was as soon as you get to shore they have this big public pool in the center of like a little shopping area. The pool was very clean, had a swim up bar and a shallow section for kids as well as lots of lounge chairs around it. We mostly spent our time in the pool at the swim up bar and then hung out on a hammock on the beach for a bit, though the beach was very small. We looked into a few excursions like snorkeling or ziplining but they all seemed to be far from port and as I said we didn't have much time there.

Here's some pictures though!

Re: Costa Maya - anyone been there?

We were there before the last hurricane hit. Costa Maya is basically a man made stop for the cruise ships. If you want a more local flavor, you can take a short cab ride to Majahual. There were quite a few "beach club" type places that offered all inclusive for food and drink and had optional services such as snorkeling and massages. I would suggest checking cruise critics for more recent information

Re: Costa Maya - anyone been there?

OMG - Goto MayaChan Beach Resort. .Here is the link.

We were there in November, I wish I could be just there the whole week.

They give you a private palapa (we had a bed and 2 lounge chairs and table). Open bar (REAL strawberry margarita/daquris), buffet lunch, free snorkeling, kayaking, and bike rides. For a fee they have massages.

They have yellow floaty chairs that you go in the water with and the waiters will come out in the water to bring you drinks.

It's a small beach and sometimes there is seaweed but I read most of the area is like that.

Re: Costa Maya - anyone been there?

My word of advice is not to use your credit card in this port. We were there and I bought some silver stuff and within minutes my credit card #'s were all over Mexico. Pay cash, or do not purchase anything ! I was there 2x, after that the next time we werein this port, we did not even get off the ship, we enjoyed having a nice day on the ship. I am not trying to scare you, butit was an awful experience and I had to make calls from the ship to stop the credit card, they had to call my sister in NY to make sure it was me, I was so scared to even give my info out on a phone line there. The ship let me use there phones , so I would not have to pay ship to shore fees. Just be careful .